WALLA WALLA, Wash.  Whitman put its foot down precisely and decisively, whether flooring the gas to start a crucial Northwest Conference volleyball match against the University of Puget Sound here Friday or pounding the brakes to halt nascent hints of Logger momentum.

The result was perhaps its most emphatic victory of the season, a 25-21, 25-22, 25-20 sweep of UPS at Sherwood Athletic Center that kept the surging Blues in the conference title hunt.

"We were just really fired up," Blues junior outside hitter Megan Henry said. "We were focused."

Henry had 11 kills and four aces for Whitman (5-9, 5-4 NWC), which won for the fourth time in five matches, recorded its third sweep of the season and avenged a 3-2 loss against the Loggers on Sept. 15. Codie Conching slapped a game-high 16 kills while posting a .542 attack percentage for the winners, and first-year Kalli Dickey had her best match as a Blue with 13 kills and two block-assists as Whitman circled the wagons for another huge test on Saturday.

"I just thought, overall, we had everything working on all cylinders," said Blues head coach Matt Helm. "All week long, we talked about finishing the second half of the season by playing from start to finish."

Whitman has been strongest in the middle and late stages of sets, but didn't stand on ceremony Friday. The Blues jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first set and used another string of four unanswered points to extend a 9-4 advantage. Whitman enjoyed leads of as large as seven points, as Henry (four kills), Conching (four kills) and Dickey (three kills) peppered the Logger defense from every vantage.

"We talked about having a strong start," said Henry. "We talked about defending our home court."

Said defense was strong. It wavered, briefly and slightly, but once. An 8-4 lead in the second set evaporated during a 6-0 UPS run that fed off a series of free balls, as Whitman's organization lapsed.

But Conching snapped a kill, the Loggers hit into the net and Henry and Lara Temel combined for a block as the Blues reclaimed the lead. Whitman trailed 13-12 when Dickey smashed a kill, and UPS would not lead again in the set, although there were four ties over the next 15 points.

Henry's kill, which saw her intercept and punish a UPS volley malingering inches above the net tape, came during a Blues push that turned a tie into a 23-20 lead. First-year Sierra Myers left an indelible mark on the win with a monster kill for the 24th point.

Dickey's ensuing kill closed out the set.

"We were not letting balls hit the floor. Our blocking was really good. We had more urgency to put the ball away," said Henry.

"(Setter Anna) Dawson was making good decisions," Helm added. "We were bettering the ball with each touch. Our outside hitters were great."

In the third set, middle blockers Lara Temel and Brooke Randall made their presence felt at the net, while Whitman's outside hitters continued their barrage. A Henry kill, Dickey block and Temel block staked the hosts a quick 3-0 in a fitting reprise of Whitman's first-set gate-break. A Henry kill started a 5-0 run. Conching, an archaic synonym for "closing," had kills on points 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 18 – the last on a first-touch blast similar to Henry's in the second set. Randall's block on the 20th point and kill on the 25th capped a 6-3 Blues run to close things out.

Temel had three kills, zero attack errors and four block assists for the winners. Randall added three kills and three block assists. Dawson had 13 assists, 10 digs and three block assists. Conching and Cherokee Washington protected the floor with ferocity, sharing match-high honors in digs with 14 apiece.

Whitman will need a similar effort to finish the Tacoma Two-Step, a dance it concludes against Pacific Lutheran University at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The Lutes overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat Whitworth in Spokane on Friday and claim sole possession of first place in the NWC.

"They have a little motivation," Helm said of the Lutes, referring to Whitman's 3-2 win at PLU on Sept. 16. "If we continue playing the way we've been playing, it should be a good fight."